Um, >> hey, good evening everybody. I'd like to call our meeting to order. At this time, can we all stand up for the flag salute? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, [clears throat]
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Boyce, can you do a roll, please? >> Yes. Mrs. Van Horn, >> here. >> Dr. Mr. Hutcherson >> here. >> Mr. Jess >> here. >> Mrs. Hodes >> here. >> Mrs. Sherwin >> here.
>> Mrs. Kra is absent. Mrs. Dale >> here. >> Mr. Kim >> here. >> Mr. Garcia is absent. Mrs. Smith >> here. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Boyce. Public notice. Adequate notice of this meeting in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the Open
Public Meetings Act has been provided by action of the board of education at its regular meeting on January 6, 2026. Notices of the Corer news and Star Ledger circulated in the school district and a posted notice to this effect on the board of education website and building bulletin board administrative headquarters 51 West Cliff Street,
Somerville, New Jersey. Okay, at this time we will open the meeting up for public comment. I won't review all the rules right now. Is there anybody who would like to make public comment? Seeing none, can I have a motion to close public comment? >> Move it, >> Mr. Jess. A second.
>> Second, >> Sherwin. All in favor? I I >> All opposed. >> Public comment is now closed. >> Okay. Approval of the minutes. I resolved that the board of education approve the minutes of the board of education meeting as follows. December
16, 2025 regular meeting and January 6th, 2026 regular meeting. >> So move. >> Mr. Van Horn have a second. >> Second. >> Mr. Jess. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> Okay. Mr. Boyce, you do a roll, please. >> Yes. Mrs. Van Horn.
>> Yes. >> Dr. Hutcherson. Yes, >> Mr. Jess. >> Uh, yes for the 16th. Abstain on the sixth. >> Okay, Mrs. Hodgeges. >> Yes, for the sixth. Abstain on the 16th. >> Okay, Mrs. Sherwin. >> Yes. For the sixth, abstain from the 16th. >> Mrs. Dale,
>> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. >> Mrs. Smith, >> yes. For the sixth, abstain from the 16th. >> Okay. >> Okay. Great. Okay. We would usually have student board representatives, but I think of the change in or scheduled of a Thursday, that's more challenging for
them. So we will uh forgo that and look forward to that at our next meeting. Great. >> Um at this point the board is going to enter executive session. Uh so I would ask Miss Sherwin if you can read the motion for that please. >> Sure. Um, executive session, the board of education of Somerville School
District in the county of Somerset will adjourn into a closed meeting to discuss the items which uh or item or items which fall within an exception of our open meetings policy and permits the board to have a private discussion since
it deals with specific exceptions contained in NJSA 10 col 4 through 12B. Um, a matters rendered confidential by federal law, state law, or court rule.
>> Goes on the second point. >> Oh, excuse me. Be it resolved that the board will now go into private session to discuss matters rendered confidential by personnel employment matters affecting a specific prospective or current employee. Any discussion held by the board, which need not remain
confidential, will be made public as soon as practical. Minutes of the private session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All appropriate persons who may be discussed in private session have been adequately notified. We do not anticipate uh action to be taken
following the executive session. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there a second there? >> Second, >> Horn. Okay. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. All opposed. Okay. The board is entering executive session at 606.
>> Okay. Could we have a motion to return to public session, please? >> I I was seconding. [laughter] >> I'll move it, >> Mr. Jess. >> Motion to return to public session. >> Oh, no. We already moved. >> Second. >> Second. Okay. Any
discussion? >> All in favor? >> All opposed? [laughter] >> Extensions. We are >> returning to public session at 628. >> Can you see? >> I cannot. >> My glasses are right there. So, >> these things would have been in the past
and now they have to go. >> So, we are going to make a change in the order of the agenda because uh we do have a consultant here that's going to be providing us uh >> ethics training and we'd like to do that first. So, uh, the consultant, um, can finish up with us and then be on his way
if you'd like to be. Um, so here's our consultant. So, Mr. Blondie, >> hello. >> All right. >> Thank you for joining us. >> Yes. You want me over there? Are you ready for me? >> You already I know what we're meeting. >> Well, we left everybody on there.
>> You're looking spiffy. >> I'm looking spiffy. >> Well, I know. You know, I know you got a haircut. You're dressed in a suit. >> Every time I come in, I'm hurt. I just want everybody every time I come here I get hurt. So last time I was here I was in a sling you know and I you know but no I'm not hurt now. I'm in good shape
cuz I got haircut. Thank you for looking at that. Thank you for joining us. Uh what you'll see is a copy of the presentation which is going to be presented uh on these two screens. You'll also see the official uh [clears throat] code of ethics for school board members sheet. And uh for
those of us who were there last week or at our meeting uh two weeks ago, excuse me, uh you had already signed uh your acknowledgement of it, uh I also have a signin sheet that's going to go around regarding this training. Uh and there'll be some other handouts provided by Dr. Bondi. So I'll turn things over to Dr.
Bondi for our school board at training. We'll welcome you new two board members. Anybody here tonight, Dr. Hutchinson and Miss Hodge, you here tonight? I don't know. Yeah. Okay, you are. Congratulations, by the way. Um and for the other board members, it's good seeing you again. Happy related happy new year since we're here. Um my job
tonight is basically um to try to give you an understanding of two areas in the law which came about by a lot of craziness in our state at one time where um ethics and conflicts which
board members were having and causing all kinds of problems when it related to the actual operation of the school district and what happens in this room and how it looks. Um, so I don't know how many years ago when I first started, we didn't have these laws. Um, and then they came into about this is like a wild
west city. Everybody was doing everything. Um, so my job tonight is to kind of give you the practical side of school ethics and conflicts and then kind of give you a little bit of the dos and the don'ts to come out of it and [clears throat]
maybe profit from me doing this for I hate to say it 50 years, but um I I cringe when I say that every day I get older, but um I've seen it all. So uh I'm going to try to give you the practical side. A lot of times attorneys will do ethics training and they'll do
it from the legal. They'll give you a lot of legal cases and legal cases have a lot of nuances and things and and you got to read them and there's a lot of paragraphs you got to read. If you don't read them all then you know the whole case. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go through this. I'm not going to insult your intelligence. You can all read. I'm going to give I'm going to
paraphrase each of these items and then I'm going to give you some real life examples. And 90% of the examples that I give you I actually went through. So I can answer any questions you have. And the other good part about it, I was a board member right in Greenbrook, right down the road. I was a board president
and I was on that board. I got elected. And so I understand the job from not only an administrator, teacher, I was an association member. I was a president. I was a vice president. So I understand it from that perspective. So I'm going to try to bring all of that together. And
um I know Derek will time me. So I I'll I'll use brevity if I can. Anyway, so let me start. Uh, tell me which button am I pushing when I'm trying to move it. Is there a >> should be the arrow? >> Okay, I'm using this. Okay, this is I didn't use this before. This is No,
which arrow? >> There we go. I got it. Okay. All right. I got it. Okay. So, basically, again, I'm going to paraphrase. I'm not going to read. Um, the code of ethics, [clears throat] if I can capize it in a few sentences, is how
you operate as board members, not only in this room, but outside this room. And one of the things that is important for me to point out to you, and you'll see it later on, um, as a board member, your
power lies in this room collectively, not individually. Um, technically, you're not really a board member outside this room until you do something wrong. Until you, you know, put something on Facebook and and we'll talk about that. And until you represent yourself outside
this room as a board member, you're really not a board member. Um, and we'll talk about that going to schools and that kind of stuff. But just remember that this is where your authority lies. And your authority lies only in one area really when it comes to
personnel, and that's evaluating the superintendent. Everybody else is evaluated by the superintendent and his team. Your job is to make sure, we'll go into this in a few minutes, you'll see it, to make sure this place runs properly and efficiently and it's good
for student achievement and it's good for students and you're holding JR accountable and that's it. You don't evaluate anybody else. You don't evaluate Brian even though Brian has a fiduciary responsibility as board secretary to the board. Um, and that responsibility is in code and I'm not
wouldn't go into that. It it's pretty exp. It's pretty easy to figure out what his job is. But as the business administrator, board secretary, he only has that fiduciary responsibility video. He actually reports to the superintendent because in the old days
we used to have board secretaries and they reported directly to the board and we used to have business administrators who reported to the superintendent and that was a nightmare because now you had these two people sat in the boardroom and I I was in those days where I was a finance person where I actually had a
board secretary. It was a nightmare. The law changed. So anytime you have a certified business administrator reports directly to the superintendent. Just so you get that. So that's the reporting aspect of it. Okay. First one is is really again I'm not going to read them to you. The first one [clears throat] tells you you have to uphold the law.
Your job in this is to uphold and enforce the law. That's you know the laws and regulations of the state board of education in New Jersey. That's your job. You have to do that. And you do that by holding the superintendent accountable. And you we'll go into
training a little bit later and you'll see how how do I know that? Well, you got to be trained in it. especially all board members, including when you first get on the board. We'll go into the training requirements later. Um, second one, and these are pretty I think they're pretty self-explanatory. Your
job is to make sure that the number one priority you have is the welfare of students, not adults. That's hard for people to understand. Very hard because you're dealing with teachers who are adults. You're dealing with parents that are adults. You're dealing with community members are adults. But your first
responsibility is kids first. Sounds easy but a lot of times borders don't follow that you know and it's not about the employees it's about the kids first that's your first law that's the welfare of kids then your job and what do you have authority I just said you
have authority what do you have authority over you have authority over policy and planning review and evaluation of the superintendent you developed a budget you have you have the ability to vote on that budget You you
have the ability to talk about what might be in it, but the recommendation of what eventually winds up in it is the superintendent and the business, right? But you have the right to talk about it. Okay? But planning, that's important because policy is your number one. Well,
your number one goal is to hire superintendent and evaluate. That's number one. Number two is policy. You need to develop policies. By the way, you have Strauss Esme. I think that's Strauss Esme, right? Not school board. Strauss Esme develops a lot of policies, makes it easier for you. But I try to
always say this to boards and superintendents and everything else. So I've meant it over the years, don't be lazy. Read it. Even though they do it, understand it. Don't be lazy. Because what happens is sometimes you let Strauss Espay run the show, so to speak, and you just approve everything and then
later on you realize, wait a minute, did I do that? Maybe I didn't want that. You know, so just that's a big piece for a school board to really develop, understand and enforce policy and every staff member in a school district should
know policy because everybody has to follow it. So you can't as a staff member say one day, I didn't know that was a policy. Well, that's legally you have to understand that just like a child, just like a teacher who has special education students in a room, they have to under they have to read the IEP before the year starts. They just
can't say, "I didn't know a kid with special ed. I didn't know what that handicap might be or I didn't know the accommodations." No, the first before that child enters the room, you got to know them. Same as you as a board, you need I'm not saying you got to know everything cold, but look at it and
understand it. Especially policies that create controversies. And unfortunately, I hate to say it, we're in a time in our society where there's a lot of controversies. I wish there wasn't. And I wish it was like when I first started, we only worried about, you know, the academics. We like used to say reading,
writing, and arithmetic. Well, today you got a whole bunch of stuff that enters in here. And unfortunately, I don't think I'd want to be a board member today. And I don't think I'd want to be a superintendent today. I hate to say that, but it's just the way it is. So, but if you follow this, I think you'll be I think you'll be in good shape. The
next one is your job is, and I keep saying, not to administrate the school district. Okay, that's the superintendent's job, you know. Now, if you don't like what he or she is doing, then you have the evaluation process, but your job is not to come in and say
this is what it should be. Your responsibility is not to administrate. Your responsibility is not to make commitments. We'll talk about that later. You know, those are important things to understand because that's what gets you in trouble. I'm going to also give you some my things that get you in trouble as a board member. And I don't never want you to be in trouble, but
I've been around long enough to tell you it happens. It happens every day unfortunately. Okay. And again, I'm paraphrasing. I'm not going to read. Um, okay. Next one. Remember that the authority that you have rests again in here collectively,
not out there. So, you can't make commitments out there as a board member. It happens all the time. And I I'm going to use real examples. When I became a board member in Greenbrook, small town, you all know where it is. right down the road, right down 22, not three towns from here. Um, I was an active parent. I
was I was a baseball coach. I was a soccer coach. I was a football coach. I was president of this group and president this and my and my and with kids involved in everything. You're always on the soccer field, the football field, the baseball field. But now I become the board president and a board member. And what happens? Everybody
wants to know what's going on. And everybody's got a complaint. So they come to you. I couldn't have practices. Sometimes people would bug me and I would say to them, "No, I don't. Uh, that's the one. I don't make commitments to you." No, here's what I'll do. You
got a complaint. No, in those days it wasn't email, but yeah, I complain. You know, we'll talk about it afterwards. I I'll bring it to the superintendent, but I'm not I'm not going to make a commitment to you. You know, because everybody, you know, they want a commitment. What are you going to do? Tell me what you're going to do. Tell me
what you're going to do. Happens all the time. I don't care if it's Somerville, Greenbrook. happened to me as a board member, it's going to happen to you. Just make sure you understand you can't take any private action. That's really important because remember what I said, once you're out there, you're private. So, you don't have the protection you
have in here. In here, you got protection to a certain degree, legal protection. Out there, you have none because you're a private citizen. [clears throat] That's important to remember. One of the biggest problems that board members have is that they don't understand that when they're out there, they're private
citizens. and they don't they don't run the school. That's a two if I if somebody asked me with the two biggest problems I've seen over 50 years in this field that's it and I saw it as my colleague my board members I used to always say to them all the time no you don't you can't do that when I was
president no that's the superintendent's job and believe me this is a tough job you know you don't get paid for it you put a lot of hours in um you take a lot of garbage when that stuff hits the pan and but it's a good job because you were
here to help And I and I always all the years and I always say this to people, why do I like boards as a superintendent? Because I think I think you need to be here. You're the check and balance in this district. And as superintendent, I need to work with you and I need to develop a relationship and I know JR does that. So just remember
there, you're not when you're out there, you're private. Um, again, don't surrender your independent judgment to special interest groups. That's important, you know, because you're
going to get involved in many special interest groups. You know, when you're in a high school district, you have booster club. Those are spe Now, that's not being negative. Those are special interest groups. Booster clubs. The band parents, I was part of all of them as a parent. So, um, they're they're special
interest groups. They might want you to do something. Hey, I want one of my biggest problems when I my son was in band was they would always come to me and want a million people in the band. They wanted something for the drum line. They wanted something for, you know, this and that. And I said, "The district can't afford all of that." Yeah. So, we got to work it out. But I can't make a
commitment as a board member. I got you. I'm going to get that. That's an independent commitment. That's dangerous. Uh same thing if you know people are going to come to you. You know, they're going to come to you and talk to you about teachers. They're going to talk about other things. um you'll have associations come to you and
ask you to do things. Okay, that's a special interest group. You can't commit to anybody. You can't like if if association members came to you and said, "Hey, look, we want to meet with you on this, this, and this." That's an ethics violation. That's a big one because that's a
special interest group. So now, I'm not saying they're bad people and they're doing it for bad reasons, but just remember it could set you up to violate that, which is talking about special interest groups. And always understand that um you have to be careful of when
you deal with personnel, you're not dealing with issues that you're you've got to be very confidential in personnel issues. This is this is a major problem. Sometimes you have a personnel meeting. You have one before the meeting tonight. You discuss something in that meeting. I
don't know what that was. Whatever it was, I'm assuming it was a personnel issue. Okay? Because it's a personnel function. Whatever happened in that meeting tonight, you can't take out of here. If someone comes up to you and says to you, and it happens all the time, by the way, somebody will come up
to you and you're out there, you're in a diner or someplace, and someone say, "Hey, I heard that so and so you were talking about the other night." You can't say, "Yes, we are." You can't say no, we weren't. Just say, "I'm sorry, I can't talk about that." You know, or if something happens in a personal meeting
you're not comfortable with. You can't do your own independent eval uh in investigation. You know, you might, for instance, something happened tonight. Now, maybe you're not comfortable with it and maybe you want to find more information about it. Well, whoever was
mentioned tonight, you can't go to that person and ask them. you. Whatever happens in this room in executive session needs to never leave that room. Yeah. And that's really important because that can get you in trouble. And I've seen more board members have ethics
violations based on them talking about personnel to people outside this room or trying to get information. You know, look, if you don't trust a superintendent, you evaluate them out. But until you're not comfortable with the superintendent, you got to have
confidence you're getting getting the right information in here. And you really shouldn't. Now, if you have trouble with something that JR did or the administration did, go to them. But don't go to the other people that are on the other side because then you're violating the ethics law because this is this is like very this is something
that's very highly litigated when you start talking outside this room. you can get involved in major litigation and major lawsuits and lots of financial lawsuits by people violating the executive session. So be that I spend a little more time on that because that's
really important. Okay. Um and you know when you're hiring the board's really not the you're not the hiring agent. You're approving what the superintendent recommends. Now, that doesn't mean that JR on occasions
might take somebody in here to have you meet and interview. He can do that. He has a right to do it. But you don't have to do that prior to approving that appointment. You couldn't say, you know what, I'm not approving that appointment if I get a chance to interview. That's
really not your job. Now, he might decide to to say, I'm okay with that. I'll bring him in. I mean, I did that as a superintendent. certain key positions like especially business administrator because somebody like Brian works with you, you talk to Brian, you know, Brian has that fiduciary responsibility as the
board secretary. So if I had a BA opening, I would have a board involved with that. Now, can a board sit on a This is always a question been asked a thousand times and it comes up all the time. Can a board of education member or members sit on a interviews with
personnel? Yes, they can if the superintendent allows it. Yes, they can. But if the superintendent feels certain interviews are not for the board to be involved in, then he has a right to do that. You know, he could allow a board
member to be part of a committee selecting a principal. Okay? Um or selecting a central office administrator there. You know, you could do that. Your personnel committee could meet with prospective candidates as long as you work it out with the superintendent, but
you can't force it. That's important. That's very important. Okay. Um and when incidences happen, you're if you feel your staff is right and they are following policy and they
are following procedure and they are following the district guidelines, [clears throat] you need to support them as a board. That's what that's saying. You know, you have an obligation to support personnel when they're performing their duties according to
those policies and guidelines. Okay? You know, you can't let you can't leave mountain cold. You know, even though, you know, one of the biggest problems we have today is there's so many opinions of what's right and what's wrong. And we
live in a in a society now where everybody has an opinion. And unfortunately, some of those opinions people don't agree with and some people don't respect. But when you're sitting here, you got to kind of be neutral. You got to kind of put your
personal opinions, if you will, and your per like, you know, all the years I was a superintendent, you could never know what party I was involved in, Democrat, Republican, independent. You would never know that as a superintendent. You would know it as a if I lived in the community because I actually ran for office. But
you wouldn't know it in this room because you can't bring politics into this room. You got to do what's right for the kids and you got to follow your policies. Okay? But that's hard to do. So be careful of that, especially today. It's much more difficult today, you know. Um and I and I always caution you
on that. Um and the chief, this is another one that's very hard sometimes for board members to deal with. You're going to get complaints. You're going to get people call you. Some of them are going to be your friends. Some of them might be your family members. You're going to have things happen to you if
you have children in the school system. You know, we all have it. You know, where sometimes maybe a child gets disciplined or maybe there's an incident where a child gets bullied or a child has a fight or whatever and you're the parent. You have to remember that you have to refer all of those complaints
[clears throat] and things to the superintendent. You can't tell someone you're going to adjudicate that complaint because you can't remember what I said. You don't have that authority as your private only here collectively. So you have to refer
all your complaints to the superintendent. And now if after a t period of time the superintendent you feel is not dealing with that complaint then you need to talk about that in executive session.
Don't do it publicly as a board. Now, I'm going to talk to you as a board member. Don't as a board member ever put yourself in a position where you're in a public domain and you say, "Mr. Superintendent or Mr. Superintendent, whoever's sitting here at the time, or
Miss Superintendent, hey, I heard this and I want to know what's going on. Why did you do that?" Let me tell you why I don't do that. because that's evaluating him in the public domain and you can't evaluate anybody in the public domain. He can't
do it and you can't do it. That's a major ethic violation. By the way, it's a lawsuit on his part. He could sue you for that because you can't evaluate him in the public domain just like you can't evaluate staff in the public domain. So, if you have a problem with a superintendent, a problem with a staff
member, you've heard something outside, when you break into executive session, you can bring it up. But here's what you can't though. If it's about a staff member, you can only use the incident. You can never mention their name because you can never talk about a staff member
publicly or privately without them being what we called Rice. R I C. Okay. Rice came about, it's actually a person. Rice came about because boards of education were talking about employees in a
negative way which could have a negative consequence. That what we say in this field is if someone is going to have a disciplinary disciplinary situation or maybe a consequence a disciplinary consequence they need to be told that maybe not the consequence they need to
be told they're going to be talked about in this room in executive session. So, just remember he's in that same situation. You can't talk about him in in out here. It happens all the time. People get hot. They get angry. That's a violation. And and that becomes even a
more serious violation because when you violate somebody's rights, then you're talking lawsuits, not ethics. So, be careful of that. If you have a situation where you want to talk about something, it happens all the time. And I'm not saying it's not legitimate. You might have a really serious complaint. call
call the superintendent up and then he'll decide if he's going to race that person for the next meeting so the whole board can talk about that person and then you can talk about then you can say whatever you want to say the only time you don't and and you have to you can't do it publicly remember you can't start talking about someone publicly and your
name one and the other thing too you got to be careful of is when somebody comes to this podium and starts talking about employees one of the things as a board president you got to stop that You got to say to
someone, understand, you're at your own peril now because you actually could be slandering somebody from this podium because this is a private this is a public meeting. This is and and you can't violate sunshine law and all kinds of stuff that violates the law when you
do that. So, you just got to be careful with that and you got to shut that down or you just got to say to somebody, okay, keep going. But understand, you could be sued for somebody could come here and say you harassed me or you violated my rights or you did something when it comes to slandering somebody
because that happens. I've seen it happen. It's dangerous and sometimes you can't shut people up and then and it gets crazy. So, you got to be careful about it. Okay. Um that's the ethics. We're going to go more into that. Okay. We're we get a little bit I'll give you some more examples. I just want to give you overview. Conflict of interest. I'm
going to do as an overview and because this is lengthy and I don't want to go into each one. I'm going to give you again a brief shot of each one. Okay. When we talk about conflict of interest, it's about you as a board member. Now, well, it's also JR too and it's also Brian. So, uh you know, but they board
members do it more than that. Administrators do it sometimes. Um we talk about immediate family in the first one. If you have an immediate family member, you know, you know, in the district, now there are many things
that you can vote on and do. Now, what I always say to board members because this changes, so this changes rapidly. If you have a family member and and the immediate family member, we're going to talk about other family members a little later on. Immediate family member is somebody by blood,
by marriage, or adoption. Remember those three things, blood, marriage, or adoption. That's an immediate family member. Okay? And you need to know that that's what they're talking about here. Okay? That you know, when there's business with those people and they work
here, you have to excuse yourself. The board members get caught in this all the time. They don't excuse themselves. Now, there's other relatives you have to excuse yourself, too, and other issues, and we'll talk about that later. But just remember that one. That's the most important one. Okay. Um, the other one
is the next one. Number two, um you have to be careful that you don't try to secure, well, they use the word want any kind of privileges as a board member. You can't go to the superintendent. Happens all the time. I remember I was a
superintendent. It happens all the time. You know, board member goes superendent. I want I I don't want Mrs. Smith next to me. I want my I want my daughter in Mrs. Jones's class. Happens all the time, you know. And be careful. I'm not telling
you can't do any of this stuff. All I'm just telling you is be careful. That's something because remember you're you're trying to you're trying to get something for you because you sit here. And that doesn't matter if it's for your child, for a relative, for a friend, it doesn't
matter. Anytime you try to secure anything that could be looked at as a privilege, be careful because you're violating the conflict of interest law. Okay? Um, and you also have to be careful that in the next one, we're now talking about any
kind of businesses. Do you have any business? You can't have business as a board member that a school district does something with. Like, you can't be the snow plow for the district. You can't have you can't say, "Okay, Brian, I want you to hire my family to do the snow
plowing for the district." Well, that's going to be a major conflict, you know, for you. now. But if you get on the board of education and they're already here, the only thing you have to do when Brian and Jr bring it up for a vote the next year, you can't vote. Okay, that's
be careful. You vote on something that's a you can vote and you can be here, but you can't be here. You can run for office and they can be here just like you can run for office if someone's working here. But when you're sitting here, now
remember the difference. Now, if someone's already working here or if someone in your family is doing business with the school district and all of those kind of things, you can run for the board. Nothing prohibits you from running for the board. Nothing prohibits you from being here if that happens.
What prohibits you is when you're sitting here if you try to get that person hired or you try to get that person to do business here. That's the difference. A lot of times people think, "Oh, I can't run for the board because uh you know, so and so is a a teacher here." No, that's not true. Or my
husband or wife or business or whatever or significant other are doing business with the district. Well, you can run, but you just can't excuse yourself from things. You know, not going to take you from your right to run for office, but it's going to tell you be careful. That's what that's what it's saying. Um,
same thing is when you sitting here for years, it still happens by the way. [laughter] I'm going to say it and when you go to school boards, you'll see it happen and you're going to say, "Ron said, don't do that." Uh, it happens all the time. One of the things that happened in schools for years was
vendors were very active in giving board members and administrators. That's what has changed because you know they would okay at at at the holidays you get gift baskets and they would give you baseball tickets and football tickets and you know you do all kinds of
stuff. Okay. Um and in school boards they have these lavish dinners only for schoolboard members still do it and they do some somehow they get away with it. I'm not going to tell you how because I'm not too sure they get away with it but they still do. But just remember, be
careful if someone tries to give you something individual, you know, like a vendor saying comes up to you and he sees you, you know, happened to me as a board member. Uh, couple of the vendors live in town and they want, "Hey, Ron, couldn't a contract, you know, um, you need some shrubbery?" I said, "No, no, I
don't need shrubbery, but it was a landscaper. You can you can get clean." That's what you got to be careful of, okay? Be just remember that, okay? And that's the same thing as number five. It also talks about gifts. Again, it's very careful about talking about gifts and loans. There's a superintendent in New
Jersey I worked with um not down the road in uh Woodbridge. Uh he took a $50,000 gift from a book company. $50,000 gift from a book company to get now big district, right? Woodbridge, big
big district to get that contract. That contract was millions of dollars. I worked with another superintendent in another district took a $10,000 gift from a health benefits carrier so they could get the health insurance multi-million
dollar contract. So $10,000, no big money. Guess what happened to that superintendent? He not only went to he he almost went he almost went to jail, but he lost suspension. I work with board members who do it all the time. They do it all the time, too. The only difference with a board member is you're not because [clears throat] you're going
to lose your board seat and you're going to maybe get fined by the ethics commission. Depending if it's looked at as bribery, then you're looking at a criminal offense. [snorts] So, watch the line. Now, you move from ethics to criminal. Just remember that happens.
It's going I'm hoping it it's not I don't know. I'm out of the loop for a couple years now. Used to happen all the time to be honest with you. It was it was very prevalent years ago where where vendors and people would try to bribe board members and superintendents happen
all the time. You look at a paper business administrators were just bribed recently. Hillsboro was a prime example of that. Major problem in Hillsboro, you know, and [snorts] so when I talk about this stuff, this isn't foreign. It happens all the time and it happens very close to us in
districts very close to us. People are getting suspended and terminated all the time because they violate the ethics law, you know, and then it borders criminal. So, you got to be careful. Okay. Um, get back on second page here. I didn't
move this like I should have. Okay. Um, number number eight. Again, we're talking about a very similar thing about gains, and they use the same a lot of these could be put together, and I'll let you read them because there are some nuances in each one, and I I'd be here
all night talking about each nuance, but look at it again. Number eight is the same thing. Number eight is saying that you got to be careful um when it comes to business and professional people and you getting engaged from being here. And one of those things would be an example
of that would be and I use the insurance thing. A lot of insurance brokers are multiaceted. They they not only do schools, they do home, they do auto, they do a bunch of stuff. Um, one of the things that it happened just recently in Essex County, they caught a big
insurance vendor who also owned a wedding facility and he was giving breaks to the board members and superintendent and business administrator to have their weddings
there to keep the contract. I won't mention this. You'll all know where it is. Um uh and that's that just happened in the last couple of years and he was a health
benefits carrier who did other things and he his wedding venue and they found out that the business administrator had his wedding there at half price and some board members had their weddings there at half price. Kids weddings there half price. Can't do that. [laughter] You're
still paying for it but you think about it. you benefited your position as a board. If I go there, I'm paying full price. You're paying half price. That's a benefit even though you're paying. So, don't think it's not. Okay. Um and that that's very important.
Um the next one um talks about school boards. You're not you're not schoolboard members, so we won't go into that 111. Um and that kind of takes that one. All right. Let's paraphrase this now and kind of look at this. school. This is why I said I'm going to
wait to do this. This is important for you to know because this comes up a lot in school books. I mean, I was the interim superintendent in Planefield um and the interim superintendent in um
Carney. Now, both city school districts, nine member boards. In Carney, I had nine, eight board members in conflict. And in playing field I had nine. Uh so you got to understand there's conflicts rolling all over the place. Now when you
have that in the law we call we have to then ask the commissioner we call doctrine of necessity. That means that because I have eight board members in conflict I can't pass anything with one vote. >> Yeah. >> If I have nine board me I can't pass
anything. So but then just think about politics of those districts now. It's all political. But anyway, they could vote now, but the but only the commissioner can rule that in a county superintendent. You can't do it on your own or board attorney tell you to vote. Um, but again, go back to what I said,
immediate family, remember what I told you here, blood, marriage, adoption. Okay? So, when you recuse yourself from a vote, make sure you understand this. If you have no one in the system, don't
worry about it. If you have someone in a system, look who someone is, okay? And find it. I mean, relative. Now, remember the board member, spouse or board members or spouse, doesn't matter which one, okay? Parent,
parent-in-law, stepchild, so on and so forth. You can read it. Okay? Be careful. Happened right here not too long ago. Be careful. You as a board member can't have any one of your relatives hired in
this school district. Just remember that. And you can't say I'm not going to vote. That's not what I'm talking about now. Remember remember I said if they're already here, you you can they can be here. If they're already here, you can run for office. If they're already here,
the only thing you have to do is you have to not vote on certain things that pertain to them. But now we're talking about the direct hire. If you have a relative in this area that applies for a job here, I hate to tell you, they can't be hired. And the only
way they could be hired if you really went, and a lot of people don't go this route because most county superintendents don't approve it. The only way a relative of anybody in this room can be hired is if you can prove to the county superintendent
that they were the only one that could take that job. You'd have to put a whole It would have to be a book together. It couldn't even be a narrative. You'd have to put together who you interviewed, why you felt this person was the best
candidate, and why you couldn't find anybody else. You couldn't do it. only happened once to me in my career and it actually happened between my wife and myself as an interim. The board of education wanted me to be their intern. They had a lot of trouble and they
wanted me to come in. It was something in my wheelhouse. My wife worked here. I said I I can't I can't come in here and be the the interim superintendent. My wife works here. I live with her. Well, first of all, I wouldn't give her any any any break, but I'd never hear
the end of it all if I took something out on her, you know, person. So, county superintendent ruled that because they want the skill set that I had benefited that board and he approved me to be hired and my wife reported to somebody else because my wife convinced
me I had to go there because the district was a mess. And I did. I went there and she gave me a hard time for two years. So I I'm not good enough. But I'm just trying to give you an example of what you can do and you can't do. Be careful when it comes to I know we don't want to get people jobs and I know we want to help people. Be careful. This
one's embarrassing and it's and if if it's found out the person who got hired will lose their job. So if it happens four months from now, you're going to have somebody out of work. And that's that's what you got to be careful of. protect not only yourself, protect the person who's going to get the job
because you know somebody's going to find out about it and it's going to be a problem, you know, but just be careful of that. That's a big um I'm going to go over training quickly. I'm only going to hit the highlighted areas and the black, the one that's
highlighted in black. You have an obligation under the ethics, this is all ethics law, by the way. Under the ethics law, you have an obligation to be trained. The new board members, you have to be trained within this year on certain governance issues. The board members that have here before, they also have to do some refreshers. Brian has
all that information. It's on the website. Brian can help you with it as the board secretary. But the key component is that you have to be trained in. And you got to be careful this. I've had board members who don't do their training and then they're going to be t if you don't do your training, you'll be taken off the board, just for the
record. Okay? You got to be trained in those components. And they're all monitoring components. Governance is how you govern obviously, you know, um personnel, fiscal management, operations, and um evaluation. Those are the things I talked about before. That's
your job. You'll get trained in that. I'm not going to go into and again within one year of the election, you got to have those training. So, it's the I'm just going to hit the highlighted areas. Um next one. New Jersey school boards does the training. Now, used to be had to be
now they they've changed. This used to be in place. You used to have to give up a whole weekend and go away from your family. Um they put you up in a hotel. Not when it was a costly to them, you know, and meals and everything else. You're away from your family. Today, they do some training in place
sometimes, but they do most of your training is done on the web. Okay? So, it's pretty easy to do it from your house, but you need to get trained. Okay? And make sure you know that. And they're responsible to put those training programs together. the training that's the one of the most important
ones that you should spend time on. And this is why I highlighted it is the one that you're going to deal with as a board all the time. Now, I hope you don't have to deal with it monthly, but I was in a big district and we dealt
with bullying and harassment every month and we had five, six, seven, 10 cases every month. This is a piece of advice to you as an ex board member and a superintendent because you are sitting in a position to either accept the superintendent's
report, change it or reject it. Accept, change or reject harassment, intimidation, and bullying schools. Get to understand that you know look when they have that training, ask questions, you know, ask JR questions.
look at the law because you're going to have you're going to be in situations where you're going to have to make a determination if someone appeals it to the board. The administration's um I'm saying what the administration recommends you approved then it's
appealed. Now you're in a situation where you need to understand does the punishment fit the crime or doesn't it? Is it too easy? Is it too hard? That's your responsibility. That's where you can make a decision.
So, understand that one. I'm I'm focusing on that one because that that's the one that boards have the most difficult and that's the one where boards make the biggest mistakes. Sometimes they overturn a bullying complaint, which they shouldn't have, and then it goes to court and and the
judge overrules the board and that makes that makes everybody look bad, you know. Uh or the opposite side, sometimes they don't go far enough and kids suffer. So just understand that's a very big issue for you and again school boards does a
training >> code of ethics can I just ask you to >> Sure. Yes. >> with code of ethics violations. [clears throat] I I feel like I'm just looking at these. I feel like you hit these pretty hard for us in the other discussions. But could you just focus on social media misconduct? >> I'm going to get into that.
>> Yeah. But but these other ones I feel like you you've kind of addressed really quickly. I'm not going to get into that. Um, this is what board members really get jammed up on. Okay, number one, don't get in on time. Conflicts. I talked about misuse of position. I talked about
social media. Okay, this one is what Bill just said. This is the one that creates the most problems for everybody. Everybody, not only board members. You as a board member have to understand that you
cannot represent yourself on social media as a board member. Okay? You can't say, "I am Ron Balandi, board member of Somerville, and this is what I think or this is what I'm feeling." Can't do that. You can do it privately, but just
make sure that if you're doing it privately, it's not an issue the board's addressing because then you're a board member. You know, I always say this to board members. When you're addressing issues in here, you're a board member. You can't walk out there and say, "I'm a citizen." Just like teachers got to do the same
thing. You know, you know, when you you know, when you come to this microphone and you complain about the superintendent, you complain about things. There's a chain of command here. You shouldn't be doing that. You know, there's a chain of command just like you shouldn't be doing certain things. So in
social media, the biggest problem in social media is people get involved in politics, campaigning for people and using a board. Uh you know, you can you can on your own independently support people, but be
careful by saying, "I'm a board member in summer. I support so- and so blah blah." They'd be great. Support them individually. I'm an individual parent. I'm an individual person. I support Derek running for the board. Be careful when you say I'm you know I'm a board
member in summer and supporting D board like another and that's social media is riddled with that and don't give your opinion don't say in so be careful in social media in this in the country today we have so many opinions
you know whether it be personal opinions or whether it be on different subjects or matters doesn't matter what it is don't say I'm a summersville board member And this is my opinion because now you're representing yourself as a board. Remember what I said before you can't represent yourself as an
individual as a board member. You're only you're a board member in here not out there. And that's the biggest downfall in social media. And you know give you example of you got to be careful when board member you know Facebook and posting things about the operation or calling people names or
getting into a debate. I had a problem when I was in Alexandria with a board member who loves social media and he would always say blank blank blank president of the board and I used to say to him how was he answering I used to say to him what are
you doing and you know I'm getting phone calls I'm getting [clears throat] killed here you know you know you know or he or we criticize the county superintendent I'm blank blank blank president of the board and the county superintendent is a total blank okay that isn't the even if the war had that opinion, you can't do
that, you know, and that's that's the downfall when you have those things on social media. >> I just I just want to comment on that. Um, and I I I would just encourage everybody, you know, there are there are lots of forums out there. There will be,
you know, strings that are going to be supportive or critical of things that the board does or doesn't do. Um, you know, and if if you happen to be on those forums, I would just encourage people not to respond in the forum. Um, you know, that's one of these things, again, I think that, um, that only leads
to problems. Um, I think it's the type of thing that, um, people will know you individually if it's if it's like a Somerville forum or something like that. It's more a matter of you can read them. You could be involved with it. You can educate yourself on those things, but I'm always cautious about, you know, we we really don't want to engage in social
media discussions about things that have defer you at the board. Yeah. you know, um, you know, to Brun's point before, you know, the the presence in this room once we get out of this room, even in the social media context, gets very, very slippery very, very quick. >> Yeah. And and and and especially it's I
know it's difficult sometimes and I know sometimes things happen to you as an individual and it affects the school district and you're angry or something and then you go on social media and you say, you know, you're mad at Mrs. Smith who did something to your child and man, you're a board member. You're going to get killed on that. you know, I mean, go
get it to JR, you know, and believe me, I get it. I mean, it's sometimes it h it's gonna happen to you, you know, but when you go on that platform, it's dangerous, you know. I'm a firm believer that I probably won't see it, but eventually someday we'll realize that
social media was some a downfall of our society to a certain degree. It it's one of the worst things for kids. I've had more kids commit suicide because of social media I don't think about. And I I've been there and I've been there and seen it and I I really am angry when I
see that we allow especially and especially teenage girls. I mean I mean and I'm not leaving boys out but teenage girls get affected by social media more than anything and you as a board member could be affected even more by doing the same thing. getting on or banging away,
you know, you don't um but that's the other ones I talked about, right? Um give you quick dos and don'ts. Now, this is me throwing this in. One of the things that I will say to you, and I'm going to almost finish. Um
one of the things that as a superintendent, I'd always impressed upon with the board and when I was a board member, I always impressed upon the board that I worked with that What happens in here and what people see is what they think
the school district is. You know, you could have the greatest academics in the world and this place could be in chaos every meeting and people get into the districts and chaos. How you present yourself in this room and how people present each other and
interact with each other is really what people see because they don't see the daily operation of the district. they're not there, you know, they see this though because this is the public forum. So, one of the things that important for me to say to board board members is the
following. You know, make sure that when you're know that you're not here to administrate the school district. So, don't try to do that in here. Okay? I said it before. Um, know the fact that anything that happens in here, you need to be able to have the
administration with a heads up. One of the worst things you can do in here is to present something to the administration that they don't even know you're going to do. You're blindsiding the administration. You know what makes JR look bad, but it also makes this whole room look bad because then he
can't answer it. Then he gets into a debate and then boom, you look bad. You never want to look bad in here. The best thing I always tell boards, if it starts to get a little dicey, go into executive session, iron it out there, and then come out here. Maybe not with United Front, but
at least with a front that's not going to make you look bad to the public, you know? I mean, um, iron out your difficulties and your and your dirty laundry during executive session. Don't do it here because if you do it here, you're going to look bad. And that's not going to help anybody, you know, and and
believe me, I can tell you, I can tell you when I ran for the board in Greenberg, one of the reasons I ran was because of that. The board looked awful. Every meeting was chaotic. It was fighting with the superintendent, fighting with each other, screaming and yelling. It was awful. And then when people would say to me, "What the hell kind of school system we have?" Now,
that's the reason I ran. Did I want to run as an administrator? No. That's why I ran because I wanted to calm the board down and that's what [clears throat] we did. So, just remember that. Um, and always remember that um, put your complaint to the superintendent. I mean, and this is just a reminder and I'll be
done and and I'm going to say the same thing over and over again. You know, the superintendent administrates the school district. He should keep you informed and whatever you need, go right to him. Don't ask for it. You can ask for it in here, but don't try to get an
explanation sometimes in here because you I I don't know everything as a superintendent. People think I might. And and sometimes people would say to me, you make big money to know everything. Well, you know, I don't walk on water. If I do, I wouldn't be sitting. I wouldn't be in this room if I walked on water. You know, I you just
don't know everything. Just like board members don't know everything. So try to work together when it comes to that, you know. Um, you know, share your concerns with don't do it on Facebook like we just talked about. Don't do it outside of the parking lot. Don't do it to teachers. Teachers do it all the time.
They're going to go to you as a board member. They know you're a board member now and they're going to see you when you pick up your child. Hey, do you know what the superintendent just did? Do you know what my principal just did? Okay, thank you. Go talk to the principal. Go talk to the superintendent. you know, uh, I'm not
I'm not supposed to take your complaint. You know, same as parents. You know, it's hard sometimes with dear friends. You I mean, I lost friends because of that. I used to have people mad at me because I wouldn't answer them to talk to. Um, and um, I think I've done all the rest. So, basically
that in a quick time, you have to do the signup sheet. Um, I left my email there. I'm still on a Somerville email, so I'm still helping Somerville out in certain occasions. um if you want to email me with an ethics question or a conflicts question, not a district question,
that's the superintendent. Um you know, where you think you're a little shaky on something and I really didn't touch on it in here because I I could spend I could spend hours on this, but I don't Derek would kill me if I spent hours on it. Um but anyway um you know it's important because this is the toughest
thing for you and my job as a superintendent as a person who does this for a living is to try to make boards of education make them look as good as they want I look because when the board looks good I look good and the district looks good.
When we look bad the district looks bad. So, you know, if you have any questions or concerns or you say, "Hey, what's going on here, call me. I might be able to answer it." Um, or email me. Um, if it's anything to do with your family members and you feel
a little queasy about whether you should vote on something or not, I would contact the board president and the superintendent who should get some legal advice because that changes all the time. I just gave you something there that's current. Now, tomorrow that could change. There could
be a lawsuit right now going on. I mean, years ago, I could sit in negotiations because my wife is an NJA. I can't sit in negotiations anymore if I was a superintendent. Now, years ago, I could do that. Today, I can't. That's because you profit from something. Just like if
you have a family member that's in a bargaining unit, you can't sit in negotiations. Okay? If a association gives you money or backs you to run for office, you can't be part of negotiations.
>> Can't vote either. >> So I think this is very thorough. So I want to thank you for that. So I think that there's questions that people have. Um what I would ask is that we kind of we hold them for a bit. If if there are things that came up in this that you know we feel like we have to discuss
more as a board or that you have to get clarification on, you can reach out I would just recommend that if you're reaching out to Ron via email CCJR as well. So JR is aware of that and CC me so we're aware of the questions that that are coming up of that. Uh, you know, I do want to thank you, Ron, because I think this gave everybody just
a very, very thorough overview of what our role as board members are and just, you know, things that we have to always be aware of, I think, in terms of of our role here and our role in the community as well. So, um, >> great job. Thanks. >> Thank you. And what you see what what's coming out is I gave you a cheat sheet
from New Jersey School Boards. It's really good. It talks about a lot of things I I talked about and I showed you your ethics form. You're going to have to fill that. Everything I kind of talked about is in there. And we all signed the ethics um code of ethics at the last meeting. So Brian should have those on file already. So I think we're
we're covered that way as well. >> It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. Thanks. >> Thank you. Good group. Thank you. >> Great job. >> Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> All right. You too. Thanks. It's good seeing you. >> Take care. >> Okay. So, just moving on. I'm just going to mention a couple things in the board
president's report. Um now, I do want to congratulate a few staff members. There are six staff members on the board agenda that are having salary guide advancement uh because they've continued their education approved college credits. Um you I just want to recognize that and also thank them for the work
that they're doing around that and it's just something again that it's good to see staff members doing that. There is a solar energy project approval on the agenda tonight. Uh, we all received information about that from Brian, but I think I just want to make the public aware if anybody's watching this that that does involve new solar panel
installation at Vander, but it also is following the heels of some very old panels being removed as well. So, I want to thank Brian for the work that went around that and just proactively, you know, continuing those advantages to the district in terms of just uh making agreements with companies that that
really are providing a benefit in terms of cost savings for the district with regards to the solar panels. And then the other thing that's on the agenda tonight is we are approving the special education legal council. Uh that's something again that went through the committee that that is one of the items that we are approving tonight as well.
Um I want to thank the administration for the process around that. We're going to we're going to actually talk about that a little bit when we talk about um just thoughts around strategic planning and just have a a board discussion around that kind of going forward. So that's the board president's report. Um
Jared, do you have report for everybody? >> Just a couple quick uh updates and announcements for everyone. First of all, uh I thought that was a wonderful presentation, very thorough. Um second, I think it's really important to uh just alert everyone to a couple updates on the web. Number one, there is going to
be a launch tomorrow for the board of education section. It's going to be uh much more thorough and transparent in terms of what our district goals and uh our board goals are uh as well as any pertinent information uh involving everybody here and what the community
needs to know. That's number one. U and that will be shared with the community tomorrow. Number two, I want to remind everyone that the referendum uh portion of the website is constantly being updated. Now, we're in the early uh uh uh stages here, so there's not a whole
lot that we can share picture-wise or update wise as we're getting ready to go out to bid on a lot of the different projects. But just so everybody knows that information that are uh public supported and voted on um and is now uh very excited for is all there and I'll
keep reminding everyone, keep pointing that out and as we have things that we can share and as updates and projects complete, they'll all be there for the community to see. It's very important because uh you know we just are so thankful and grateful that the community supported that. And last we have a new
addition to our registration online and that is not only is kindergarten available online for registration but the preschool portion of that is open and online. And as everybody knows here we're very excited that not only will the uh addition at Vanderve be complete but we're hoping to open up additional
seats with community partners. So uh a lot of information is up there. There's still a lot to be done as we need to have a lottery process and some things to iron out for that next year, but that is a really exciting component uh that we'll be able to expand the number of seats available for the community. Now,
again, we cannot uh guarantee all uh members that sign up to the lottery do end up with a seat. Uh but uh the the purpose of the preschool grant and our mission in that is to continue to uh expand the number of seats available. and the earlier we get our students into
our school district, the better uh you know for for everyone. Uh and we're very excited to open our doors uh to more people this year. Last but not least, at next meeting, as we talked about in the beginning of the year when we presented our district goals, we'll do a brief
check-in uh for the community presented um you know with some of my team members and myself next week. Uh next week, I keep saying week. Couple weeks from now. It won't be next week. So, just a couple quick updates. Thank you everybody and uh look forward to our strategic planning conversation in a moment.
>> All right. Okay. So this item that's on the agenda is is something that uh I think we as a board want to be able to give some direction to the administration in terms of the process for actually identifying um who would do our strategic plan and guide the
district on that. Um I think one of the things that uh we want to clarify for the board of education right now is um the process that we used in actually identifying the special ed attorney uh was actually something that was the
first time we actually kind of went through the process in that way. So it worked really well in terms of we had an RFP, so request for proposal that went out. Uh the administration uh reviewed all of the proposals that were were filed with the board, narrowed that down
to three. The committee then actually met and interviewed all three of those um representatives from those firms and then we actually identified which one via the committee as a recommendation to the board which we're approving tonight. Uh I think for the strategic planning
process there's been some sentiment expressed that um that should be a full board potential interview process versus a committee interview process. And I think what we want to be able to clarify for the administration tonight is do we are
we comfortable with the idea of the the board after a committee review and interview process like we did with the um legal council where the board really was accepting the recommendation
of a committee. we can decide to have this process of identifying a strategic plan consultant live in a committee the way we do with the board and and in this case my initial thinking on this was that it might live with the communications committee and the communications committee as one of their
wings because this is going to be a big communication effort could represent the board in terms of the administration screening some of the the candidates bringing forth if there were seven applicants bringing forth four to the board of education that they feel would be you know most suitable. The board
committee then has the opportunity to actually interview those candidates and then the board committee can make a recommendation to the full board and that is a process that I think would allow I think in an interview process a very open discussion in a committee room
that might be very different if we tried to do that as a full board. Um so really I think I'm I'm putting that out there as an option. The other option that we could consider is that the full board does the interviews. that would be an open session where you know we would have three candidates come in and we
would want to interview them in open session. Uh that's that's a very different feel. That's a very different kind of uh presentation that's taking place but it's an option that the board has. Um that is something I think in discussing this with the administration that should be a full board decision as
to how we want to go about doing that. I don't think we have to we don't have to do a motion. We don't have to do a recommendation. We just need to give them guidance. >> I need I kind of put that out to the board right now. Is there are there thoughts around that that individual board members have or preferences or questions that people have around process?
>> So, as the chairperson of the communications committee, I'm happy to have it sit there, but I realize that I would get to see it either way, right? So, I feel like I really would want to hear from people who are not on the communications committee if they feel comfortable or if they feel like they would want to hear it in front of the
whole board. I serve on I'm on the communications committee too. So [laughter] >> if I could add one uh component to uh the process we use for the legal council. Just want everyone to know that uh we had a rubric that was uh put into the RFP. It was a very rigorous process.
took us quite a bit of long quite a long time to narrow it down and then a rigorous screening of which we then put those screened uh participants in through uh the finance committee which then had another round of just the board interviewing them and narrowing it down. So just want everyone to know it is a
very rigorous process. It's not just you know we receive a couple RFPs and you know this one looks better than that one and it's a a thicker uh packet and we'll pass that one on. It it is quite a process in which you know we are weighing all of the submissions against one another. Then based upon those
submissions uh seeing uh which ones need to be screened and then based upon those screenings if they still warrant it and it matches the submission with what their work is and who they are and what they represent and their expertise having them the committee look at those. So just wanted to add that component.
>> And also can I get a clarification just on the communications committee because I believe in one of the meetings in the past you said communications we could give the minutes because it's an open meeting. Would that still be like like how like understand? >> Yeah, the communications committee has
most recently served as kind of a forum for discussion that's expanded way beyond just the board members. We still can't have any more than five board members attending that meeting, but it was used more as a forum also for input to be received from members of the community that the committee was also
partaking in. And then um this would be a little bit different. This would be the the committee would meet just as a committee, you know, of the four or five board members that were present. It would not be open to the community in of itself and it would serve as, you know, just a function of the of the board that
way. Another way districts have done this is just to create a new committee like an ad hoc committee and say like that's the strategic plan ad hoc committee. I don't think we necessarily would have to do that. We could have it live with the board committee. Um you know the other the other thing about the RFP process like Jarro was saying is
it's very transparent. So like the RFPs are posted online so any member of the public can go and look and say like what's the criteria that we're using? Um so like that is the backdrop of that when the committee is actually doing interviews like they should be you know sticking with that criteria that's kind
of set up. Um so so really we just need to kind of give them direction. >> What would the communication be like after the committee has decided on an individual? Is there the opportunity to have kind of a full board discussion about how the committee came to that >> decision?
>> That would involve the recommendation would involve a motion on the agenda. Jr. would be able to communicate that in his updates to the board. I think um we can time this, you know, in terms of uh when there's a community update, but there could be a full board discussion
that evening about why did we feel this was the best person and that could be a public discussion rather than doing interviews. It's more a matter of like the committee did three interviews. We give very detailed kind of you know uh accounting of the process but then also say that this is why the board is re or
the committee is recommending this individual uh group to be able to do this for us. >> Is this the first time we're going through this process? >> Not strategic plan. Uh the last strategic plan was done quite a while ago probably seven years ago and it was done I think very much inhouse. There
was not a consultant that was hired to actually do the process. >> I believe it was 2020. It was vision 2025. It was a fiveyear plan. >> Okay. Because I didn't recall. >> Yeah. >> Then we're at 2026. [laughter] >> That's okay.
>> I personally I mean I feel comfortable with placing this in in inside of a committee. Um we receive reports from the committee. We are able to read them. I think that it offers an opportunity to
potentially dig a little bit deeper during those discussions. Um, I really I do I feel very comfortable with that and especially knowing the RFPs are public that that people can read them. Um, I I think that's an important component to be transparent.
The committee process worked very well looking for the special ed legal representation and in the smaller group I think you get better focus back and forth from the person that's being interviewed than having a
whole mass of people focus on them. >> And this is to find the facilitator not to do the work. So it's >> the step before the step. >> The Yeah. And the facilitator actually does quite a bit of work for the district if if depending on how we go in terms of defining [clears throat] what
that role could be. But you know there's a lot of data collection that they have to do. There's a lot of analyses that they do for the district. It's just something again if it's done right it's way too time consuming for JR to do this or for the administrative team to do it. It's it's really tasking somebody to do
that for us and you know to um I think engage with all the stakeholders in a way and provide opportunity for that engagement. Um so is there anybody opposed to the idea of the committee structure handling this because if if we're go with this we can
just give them their direction that that that's what the constru you know the the the process will be. I think Jr. can, you know, as part of his um his work just work with the committee to to really outline the timeline on this and make
some decisions about when we want this done by. I know Brian, we've had discussions in terms of finance, just making sure that this is, you know, accounted for within the budget in terms of a high, you know, cost for this and a low cost. I don't think that the cost of the facilitator requires us to do an RFP
like you know it could you know somebody might charge us above the threshold or or suggest something above the threshold but um many times they'll come in under that threshold which is the RFP is not necessarily required in that sense but it's much more transparent to do the RFP so
>> okay >> all right great okay so great for that good good job all right so moving on to uh report of board items or Committee reports. I believe we only have one and that's Miss Van Horton for finance. >> Yes. For finance, security and building
and grounds. We met on January 13th and went over the 2026 27 significant budget requests and um the things the top items were that the high school intercom system is targeted for replacement next
year. This will be the final step in a three-year roll out. Middle school is done. Vandervir is finished doing elevator refurbishment at the high school. It's constantly breaking down and major repairs are being made more
difficult because parts are getting difficult to obtain. Um getting a new electric sign for the middle school. Um we had thought that had been set and then the vendor failed to deliver. Um other items that we that we spoke about
were deferred due to capacity restraint restraints for the coming school year. Um, we went over the 2026 27 enrollment projections and reviewed the five-year capital plan and of course did the
special ed law um firm interviews that night which was was again very successful and informative and chose made our our choice better. >> Okay, great. Any questions?
>> Okay, >> thank you to the Yeah, thank you. It was a very good process. I think um it provides a good model for us going forward, too. All right, so moving on to uh just approval of agenda items. We're going to first do preschool through 8th grade. Uh as a
reminder, is there anybody who would like to remove an item within that group for a separate vote and discussion? Okay, seeing none, um M. Sherwin. >> Motion to approve that items 1 through 18 be moved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools
appointments and salaries contingent upon verified documentation. >> Second. >> Okay. Good job. Any discussion? >> This is where. >> Okay. Mr. Boyce, your role, please. >> Yes. Mrs. Van Horn. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hudson. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Jess. Yes. >> Mrs. Hodes. Yes. Mrs. Sherwin. Yes. >> Mrs. Dale. Yes. >> Mr. Kim. >> Yes. Okay, moving on to 9inth grade through 12th grade. Are there any items that a board member would like to have removed for a separate vote?
Okay, seeing none, Miss Sherwin, >> motion to approve that items 19 through 37 be moved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, appointments, and salaries contingent upon verified documentation. >> Okay. Is there a second there? >> I'll give that one to Miss Van Horn.
[snorts] Okay. [laughter] All right. Any discussion? >> Okay. Mr. Boyce. >> Mrs. Van Horn. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hutcherson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jess. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hodes. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sherwin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dale? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kimmick? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Smith?
>> Yes. >> Okay, great. Okay, moving on to old business. Are there any old business items board members would like to bring forth? Okay, seeing none, is there a motion to close all business? >> So moved. >> Miss Sherwin. Second. >> Second. That was Miss Dale. Any
discussion? All in favor? >> All opposed? Extensions? Old business is closed. New business. Are there any new business items? Board members would like to move forward. >> All right. Seeing none, is there a motion to close new business?
>> So moved. >> Miss Sherwin. Second. >> Second. >> Good job. All right. Uh discussion. Okay. All in favor? I. All opposed. Extensions. Okay. New business is closed. And
finally, um motion for adjournment. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Is there a second? >> Come on, Derek. You've been quiet. >> So, I'm Everybody over there is very excited to motion and second. So, I'm I'm waiting. >> Do we have a second? >> I think massage.
>> Oh, good job. Okay. Second, massage. All right. And any discussion? >> Okay. All in favor? >> All opposed? extensions. Thank you very much everybody. We are adjourned at 7:42. Have a great night.
>> Thank you. torn to it. So,